Effectively Implement The Jigsaw Classroom As A Collaborative Learning Strategy

Jigsaw Teaching Technique

Collaborative or Cooperative learning is in vogue among teachers who are striving hard to see all their students excel in their academics. There are a variety of cooperative learning techniques but one of the most popular methods is the Jigsaw Learning technique. Jigsaw, as the name suggests, is a cooperative learning technique where the students are taught in a way as if a jigsaw puzzle is being solved. In this teaching method every student is given equal importance and responsibility in a group activity. Each student is responsible to complete a portion of the project in order to understand the entire lesson properly. This is a three decade old teaching technique and has been proven to be an efficient technique.  Here is an example of what exactly the technique looks like when implemented in real time. The students present in a science class are divided into small groups of three each. Now, the complete lesson on gases is divided into three parts and each student in a group is assigned to study a part. For instance, Nick is asked to study what are gases, Sarah is asked to pen down the detailed characteristics of gases, Obuya is asked to name some gases. Thus, all the members of different groups are assigned to study different parts of a lesson.

Once they complete their study, they return back to their Jigsaw group and p[resent a comprehensive report of their parts. The students in a jigsaw group need to concentrate and listen carefully as to what each group member has to say. Thus, by listening in parts they get a hang of what the entire lesson consists of. The best thing is that none of the students have the chance of getting hold of the entire lesson until and unless they listen carefully to what the team members have to say.

Another aspect of this technique is that the students do not immediately return to their jigsaw group and instead need to communicate with classmates who have been handed over with the same assignment. Thus, they get the chance to get a comprehensive understanding of the subject they have assigned to research. In jigsaw learning techniques this group that discusses with the same topic is known as the Expert group. Expert group discussion is very helpful in clearing all the doubts that a student may have regarding their research and also lends them with an opportunity to learn what they might have missed out during their own research.

Now, after every student is ready with their part of the assignment, they can come back to their jigsaw group. Thus, once the experts return to their groups, they start to present their research and study in front of the other group members. All the members in a group get to learn about the different parts that constitute the entire chapter. Thus, every student of a group gets the chance to present their study and teach the entire group on their area of expertise. After the discussion gets over, students are individually tested on the basis of their understanding about the entire topic. So all the students are tested to learn what they have understood about gases.

Now, people often have doubts regarding the efficacy of the jigsaw teaching method and these can be cleared only when they learn about the special benefits that this teaching technique offers.

How to Effectively Implement Jigsaw Technique

Implementation of the Jigsaw technique is the most important part of using this cooperative learning technique. You need to understand that implementing the Jigsaw technique requires a very structured method. And I emphasized, there are several challenges that a teacher comes across while implementing this technique and failing to overcome the same would defeat the purpose of using the technique.

One such challenge that I found really difficult to overcome was the influence of the dominant student in a group. But prior to discussing about the challenge, I need to tell you how I tried to effectively implement the Jigsaw method in my classroom. Here is a synopsis of the same:

a) I divided the classroom into 5 or 6 small groups. One thing that I kept in mind while creating the groups was to maintain the diversity in terms of the race, ability, gender and ethnicity.

b) One student from every group was elected as the leader and this student was someone whom I found to be mature enough to handle both his assignment as well as managed the group. The outright choice was not the most intelligent one but it was in fact one of the smart students who was both good at studies as well as playing pranks on the other classmates.

c) The entire lesson of a day was subdivided into smaller sections of 5 or 6 lessons. Every student was asked to learn only segment and it was ensured that it was the only segment that he or she had access to.

d) I ensured that every segment was studied at least twice by each student so that they got to understand all the details that were there. I asked all the students not to memorize the lesson.

e) Now, I formed expert groups that consisted of the students who have been handed the same segment of the lesson. The students were provided with ample time to discuss the topics and the primary things that constitute the topic.

f) Now I brought back the experts into their jigsaw group.g) It was now time to bring the experts into interaction mode with each other.

Here the experts presented their topics in front of the group. It kept on constantly encouraging the students into asking questions on the topic so that there were no doubts in their minds.

h) I also moved from one group to another noting down the activities for both the groups as well as the individual students. I tried to ensure that no student was too dominant to stop the other students from getting a fair chance to present their topics as well as answer the queries popped up by the group members. Even if there is a leader, he/she was instructed how to properly intervene the discussion.

i) After the discussion comes to an end, every student was asked to answer a few questions that had been specifically designed to cover the entire lesson. The students were made to realize that these discussions were not for fun only and that I meant business.

Now, this was a method that I learnt from an African teacher who was involved in teaching students from a variety of races. The teacher said that not only he but also other teachers from the neighboring schools in his town used the Jigsaw techniques to teach the students. In the course of teaching, he had faced several challenges but it was the problem of a dominating student that caused him to rethink his choice of teaching method. I too was facing the same problem hence I was up for some tips from this teacher who found a real effective way of using the Jigsaw technique of collaborative learning.

Prime Challenge in Jigsaw Implementation

Though implementing the Jigsaw teaching method is initially an easy task but the challenges seem to spring up from time to time and they can be really tough to overcome. This thing was realized with the passage of time by the African Teacher Mr. Ramdin. He faced the unique challenge of tackling the dominating students who were part of his Jigsaw classes. These students were not only good at their studies but also had the traits of leadership.

Possessing a dominating or leadership quality is something that every teacher wants in his/her students but it can be particularly a big hindrance in the smooth conducting of a jigsaw classroom. Jigsaw teaching is about the involvement of all the students in a class, so one student dominating the show can cause problems in the active participation of the other students.

Mr. Ramdin had divided his class into small groups of 5 and had even elected a leader from all the groups who would be conducting the discussion. According to the structure of the Jigsaw, he had even created the experts group where the students dealing with the same segment of the chapter can further discuss their individual findings. Thus he was not expecting any trouble during the discussion. He used to fly from one group to another and during one such session he found out that some of the students were not taking part in the group discussion. This was particularly troubling as he wanted all the students to participate actively and submit their presentation in front of all the other group members. He decided to have a talk with the group leaders and also the individual members as to what was wrong with them.

a) The leaders were changed in every class: Mr. Ramdin brought a big change as he kept rotating the leaders chair in every group. With every class the leaders were also changed and every student of a group got the chance to lead. Since the leader had the responsibility of conducting the discussion so even the dominant students were compelled to listen to what the others had to say.

b) Special instructions were provided to the Leaders of each group: Prior to the start of the discussion, the students who were elected as the leaders were provided special instructions on how to conduct the discussion. They were also instructed to take the responsibility that all the members in a group get a fair chance to speak up on a topic.

c) Questions were asked in between the sessions: Mr. Ramdin decided to make rounds of all the groups and ask questions to the students who seemed to be only listening and seldom speaking up. He even asked questions to the students at the end of the session to test their understanding of the subject.

d) Discuss the issue with the dominating student: There were a few students in Mr. Ramdin’s class who could not be stopped from bullying or dominating the other students of a group. So, he decided to have a straight talk with these students in order to explain to them the downsides of only speaking not listening to the other members of the group. They were told that the lessons are meant to be discussed and for this all the group members must be provided equal chances of speaking up their minds in a subject.

re) Now, I formed expert groups that consisted of the students who have been handed the same segment of the lesson. The students were provided with ample time to discuss the topics and the primary things that constitute the topic. f) Now I brought back the experts into their jigsaw group.g) It was now time to bring the experts into interaction mode with each other. Here the experts presented their topics in front of the group. It kept on constantly encouraging the students into asking questions on the topic so that there were no doubts in their minds.h) I also moved from one group to another noting down the activities for both the groups as well as the individual students. I tried to ensure that no student was too dominant to stop the other students from getting a fair chance to present their topics as well as answer the queries popped up by the group members. Even if there is a leader, he/she was instructed how to properly intervene the discussion. I) After the discussion comes to an end, every student was asked to answer a few questions that had been specifically designed to cover the entire lesson. The students were made to realize that these discussions were not for fun only and that I meant business.

Prime Challenge in Jigsaw ImplementationI started to implement the Jigsaw technique and started to frame new strategies to overcome the challenges like the one I discussed above. Tackling the dominating student was a tricky issue as I did not want these students to lose the fervor of attending the classes. It has been often observed that when the natural instincts of a student are curbed, they tend to lose interest in the class – this was something that I never wanted. I also did not want the other students of the group lose interest because of one over-enthusiastic student. Thus, implementing the above strategy seemed to be the most prudent decision. My challenges did not get restricted to the one that is mentioned above and it was my responsibility find out a proper solution without disturbing the jigsaw classroom setting. At times the challenges were very unconventional that left me perplexed but one thing I always practiced was to note down all the group activities meticulously - the solution for the same too lies there only.

Conclusion

Prior to the implementation of the Jigsaw learning technique, I used to feel that I have already used the cooperative learning as I have often divided the students of my class into small groups. To my surprise I found that only instructing the students in the group to cooperate and share their lessons was not enough – there were always a few who never really showed any interest in getting involved in the discussions. On the other hand, collaborative learning or cooperative learning techniques like Jigsaw helped in growing interest among the students who never really showed any interest to even attend the classes regularly.

If we are looking at a structured and effective learning technique then Jigsaw is definitely winner hands down. This learning method allowed the students of my class to not only be a part of the group but also participate actively in all the group activities. The participation of the students is not enough and the students are evaluated or graded on their individual participation as well as group activity. So I feel that this is one learning method that would go a long way in instilling the interest and confidence among students.

Effectively Implement The Jigsaw Classroom As A Collaborative Learning Strategy

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